Stiff sentence for foreigner tampering with municipal infrastructure

A Zimbabwean man received a 34-year sentence for vandalizing essential electrical infrastructure in a nature reserve, disrupting water supply for wildlife and residents. The NPA emphasized that such crimes severely impact communities and vowed to pursue harsh penalties.

A 51-year-old Zimbabwean man, Zakhele Hadebe, was handed a 34-year prison sentence in the Musina Regional Court on 18 September after being found guilty of tampering with essential infrastructure, theft of non-ferrous metals forming part of essential infrastructure, contravention of the Immigration Act, and trespassing.

"On 11 May 2023, at Maremani Nature Reserve, Hadebe and an accomplice vandalised a private electrical installation by opening a transformer and digging up several metres...